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Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver)

Finally, with the latest pics released from X-Men: Days of Future Past, we have a first glimpse of one of the “new” characters (he’s to be considered new, even if he had a small cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as one of William Stryker‘s mutant prisoners: an appearance that is evidently not considered in the new movie): Quicksilver, portrayed by Evan Peters. He’ll appear in the 1970s part of the film, at his father Magneto‘s side in his new Brotherhood of Mutants. The character is also set to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a project that put Marvel and Fox on the war footing, since Quicksilver is one of the few characters considered to belong to both the X-Men and the Avengers franchises. Eventually, the studios found a compromise (quite a dumb one), and Aaron Taylor-Johnson will portray Quicksilver, not a mutant and definitely not Magneto’s son, while Evan Peters will be Pietro Maximoff, not an Avenger and not a hero… they just split the identity in two. Great. Anyway, let’s see who Pietro “Quicksilver” Maximoff is in the comics.

Pietro Maximoff was conceived, along with his sister Wanda, as the son of Erik Lensherr, the future mutant terrorist known as Magneto, and his gypsy wife Magda. When Erik used his powers to get revenge on some KGB agents responsible for his first daughter Anya‘s death, Magda got scared of him, and fled, taking refuge on the Balkan Mountains, in the remote European nation of Transia. In here the woman, pregnant, was welcomed in the technological city of Wundagore by an unexpected friend: Bova, a genetically engineered cow who was one of the High Evolutionary‘s experiments. Bova helped Magda deliver the twins, and later was left alone with them when the woman preferred to commit suicide rather than to let Erik find her again along with the children. Bova thought it wasn’t right to raise two human children among the evolved animals of Wundagore, and tried to give them to two former superheroes, Whizzer and Miss America, who were seeking refuge in Transia as well. Miss America, however, died of childbirth, and Whizzer lost his mind and fled. Bova resolved to bring the children to the High Evolutionary himself, and he agreed to find foster parents for them: he found a couple of gypsies, Django and Marya Maximoff, who had lost their baby twins Mateo and Ana during World War II. The Maximoffs accepted the children, and raised them as they were their own. Wanda and Pietro grew up as normal children until, during adolescence, they started manifesting superhuman powers. When a raging crowd attacked their gypsy camp, fear activated Pietro’s superspeed, and he grabbed his sister and ran miles away from home without even realizing it. With no knowledge of what had happened, Pietro and Wanda started living on the streets of Central Europe, trying to survive with what they found day by day.

When Wanda accidentally burnt a house with her powers, a crowd of scared and violent citizens was about to kill them both, but Magneto intervened to save them, without knowing they were his children: he only saw two mutant peers about to be killed by humans. Grateful for the saving, Pietro and Wanda followed Magneto to the US, and entered his Brotherhood as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, helping him in his terrorist acts and in his battles against the X-Men. Neither Pietro or Wanda knew Magneto was their natural father, and they obeyed him only out of gratitude, and fear for a possible retaliation if they didn’t. When Magneto was defeated by the Stranger and exiled from Earth, the twins found their perfect opportunity, and left the Brotherhood, coming back to Transia. They soon found themselves as fugitives for their past actions, and sought protection from the best known team of superheroes: the Avengers. It was the time in which most of the founding members had quit with the team, and Captain Americawas looking for new recruits. Quicksilver and Scarlet entered the team along with another former supervillain, Hawkeye. At first, this new formation (nicknamed Cap’s Kooky Quartet) proved to be much inferior to the previous one, especially because they lacked any idea of what working in a team meant. Especially, Pietro often clashed with Hawkeye, and the two often quarreled on which one of them would have succeeded to Cap’s leadership. Eventually, Captain American made a real team out of them, and also taught the mutant siblings how to use their powers without hurting other people (something that Magneto wasn’t interested in). Quicksilver became a helpful member of the Avengers, and was accepted by the public opinion and the superhero community despite sometimes joining the Brotherhood again. He also married Crystal, the Inhuman princess, thus strengthening not only his personal life, but also his public image.

Pietro Maximoff is a man used to act on his own, often rebellious and restless, sometimes even aggressive and insolent; his only, indubitable loyalty is towards his sister Wanda, the only other person he really cares for, apart from his daughter Luna. As Quicksilver, he is easily one of the fastest beings on the planet: his superspeed not only allows him to run faster than sound, but also to vibrate his molecular structure so that he can destabilize and destroy any other object he touches, and even to travel through time increasing his speed. His body has adapted to his powers, so he possesses superhuman durability and stamina (so that he can resist his own abilities), possesses cardiovascular and respiratory systems more efficient than normal humans, and also possesses some degrees of superhuman strength, at least in his lower body. Despite being quite impulsive and reckless, he’s also able to think super-fast, something that usually protects him against telepaths. A powerful mutant and a loyal brother, Quicksilver’s is an erratic and unpredictable man, whose past far too often influences his choices.

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